Turns out that chugging down vast volumes of beer is actually not the way to turn on potential mates. In fact, it’s acts of kindness and altruism that will do the trick.

In three studies of more than 1,000 people, Dr. Tim Phillips and his fellow researchers at the University of Nottingham found that men and women placed a high level of importance on altruistic behavior in choosing a partner.Women rated altruism even higher than men as a sexually desirable trait in mates.The study was published in the British Journal of Psychology.

The “mate preference towards altruistic traits” (MPAT) scale was based on a matrix of the following nine items:

Volunteered to help out in a local hospital

Volunteered to help without pay on a week’s holiday for disabled people